a major key issue including taxes, medicare and the biggie, jobs. with live team coverage of the debate and how it's being received we begin with steve handelsman in denver. >> reporter: jessica, thanks. here in denver tonight, mitt romney knew he had to bring his a-game. most of those who watched figured that's what he did. the pressure was on mitt romney who needed a turnaround tonight. president obama came into the debate ahead in every battleground state. with an estimated 60 million americans watching on tv, cable and the web, moderator tjim hehrer asked, can you put more people to work. >> he would cut regulations and taxes on small businesses. >> my priority is jobs. so what i do is i bring down the tax rates. >> governor romney's proposal that he has been promoting for 18 months calls for a $5 trillion tax cut. >> reporter: which the president claimed would help the rich at others 'expense. >> the average mittedle class family would pay about $2,000 more. >> everything he just said about my tax plan is inaccurate. >> it's not possible to com